Kibou
by antwattack
Summary: Being a single parent, it was her sole duty to care for her son’s well-being. Well, who knew that going to a simple elementary school open house could change your life ? Rated M for language.
1. Up Against

_Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and Co. that is currently the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Shonen Sunday, Sunrise, Animax, Nippon TV, Yomiuri Tv, and the rest of those companies I can't pronounce, with the exception of Akihiko (he's my baby too) and all those other characters not in Inuyasha or all those Hispanic and English named people, those sexy people are all mine ! I also don't own any of the songs that are in this story._

_**Kibou**_

Kibou-the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; Hope.

Chapter 1- Up Against (Blackout)

Regrets always work  
Excuses are better  
A practical exchange  
Or a trade for the truth  
But you know it never held up (but you know it never held up)  
Pretend that it's still good now

Face it  
This is what we're up, up against?  
You're waiting  
And every minute is a minute away  
Face it  
This is what we're up, up against?  
You're waiting  
And every minute is a minute away

Sirens blared in the distance as two ambulances passed the tiny mini-van in what seemed to be a sea of cars. Kagome let go of the steering wheel as she put the gear shift on park and leaned back in her seat, coffee mug in hand.

"Well, Aki, looks like we're going to be late, again."

Kagome was greeted by silence and glance up at the rear view mirror to see what her son was doing; sleeping. She wasn't surprised at all. Ever since she got him that new Playstation 3, Akihiko had spent all his time playing video games on it.

She sipped some coffee and took the steering wheel as the traffic started to move, very, _very_ slowly. She remembered the first time the doctors told her she was pregnant. Kagome and her husband, Kouga, were ecstatic. She couldn't have been more happy now that she was married to the perfect man and was blessed with this perfect child growing inside of her. It reminded her of what Annie from the Broadway play, Chicago, once said, " It was like Heaven with two and a half rooms." That was, until she caught Kouga in the arms of Ayame! Kagome knew Ayame had a crush on her husband since she first met her in high school, but being with a man who she knew was already married! What a tramp! So let's just say that was the end of that.

Kagome moved out the next week and filed for divorce within a month. They wanted to be together? Well, fine! They could be together all they want. She was surprised when Kouga decided to pass on the child support. So he didn't want to have Aki from the start. It didn't matter to her whether or not he thought their child was important. She was with her baby and they were going to make it, she was sure of it.

Kagome and Akihiko had ended up moving in with Sango, her best friend since elementary school, until Kagome could get back on her feet and afford an apartment. But, there wasn't one day that passed that Kagome would look at her son and not see Kouga. She still loved him, after all. But, she didn't trust men after that. She wouldn't go on any of the blind dates that Sango would set her up in and didn't go to clubs. She had to look after her baby.

She giggled as she remembered the first day of Kindergarten. She wouldn't let Akihiko go, well, not until she was sure he was fully prepared. Which included getting smothered in kisses by his mom a few times.

Kagome was just about to drift off into another memory until she heard the honks from the car behind her.

"Hey bitch, move it along, would ya?!" She quickly looked up at the rear-view mirror, hoping to catch a glance at the rude, inpatient person behind her.

She was angry. Although she was usually a calm person, the one thing Kagome couldn't stand was someone cursing at her. That's precisely why she got out of her car and stomped over to the Ford truck behind her.

"What did you just call me?" Hands on her hips, she gave him the scariest glare she could produce.

Inuyasha had been cursing at that wench for sometime now, but those curses immediately fled his mind when he saw her. She was the spitting image of his diseased wife, Kikyo. She had the same face, the same body, even the same eyes! It was like this woman right in front of him was her twin sister! He just couldn't believe it.

"Um, hello? What happened Mr. Macho, cat got your tongue?"

He almost forgot that she was the reason he was going to be late- no scratch that- _extremely _late.. He had been behind this woman's car for the last hour and when the traffic started to clear up she hadn't moved an inch.

"What?" he had been too busy checking her out to notice that she was speaking to him.

"I said-oh never mind. Listen mister, who do you think you are insulting me like that?"

"Who do you think you are to think you can hold up traffic?"

"Ugh! God! You know what, -"

_**HONKKKKKKK**_

Kagome's little rant was cut off by the line of cars behind Inuyasha truck.

"See? You're doing it again wench."

The next thing that was heard among the all the beep's and honk's was a loud slap. Without thinking Kagome had just slapped Inuyasha. As she made her way back to her car she could very clearly hear more muttered curses from the man in the driver's seat.

"Serves him right," she murmured while sitting back in her car and almost immediately driving away.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah, baby."

"We're going to be late, aren't we ?"

"I'm afraid so."

The rest of the car ride was in silence as Kagome kept thinking about her run-in with the stranger that cursed at her. He was gorgeous! Obnoxious and irritating, but extremely gorgeous nonetheless.

He had oddest whitehair that she'd never seen before, but it went well with him and his beautiful golden eyes. She had never seen such a marvelous eye color! He could have melted her with that extreme gaze he was giving her a few minutes ago. Not that she'd ever admit it to anyone. He looked like a model kind of like those guys you see modeling Armani or DKNY.

'Anyways,' she thought, 'I better stop thinking about him. It's not like I'm ever going to see him again.'

Shikon Elementary was coming into view and she knew it was time to drop off her son. The school itself was pretty big for an elementary school, and had lots of different paintings and smiley faces on the walls. A class project, she remembered, one that involved her son painting a portion of the wall outside. It had an enormous playground with many different slides and swings, which students were already enjoying, while their teachers watched them.

She loved the school. All of her son's teachers were very nice and her son never once complained about them. She was scared stiff the first day she let her little boy go to school but once she saw the smile on his face when she picked him up it gave her a feeling of happiness.

"Mommy! I'll see you later, okay? At two and remember, tonight's open house you have to meet my teacher! He's great!"

"A he? Well, that's a nice change considering you always get the teachers of the female type."

"I know! I'll see you later. I love you, mommy."

With that, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran into the school doors. Kagome sighed. She simply adored it when her son told her he loved her. She knew she would never get tired of those three little word coming from her son, mostly because she knew he meant it.

She didn't know why, maybe it was her motherly intuition or something, but she could tell that today was definitely going to be interesting.

A/N: Alrighty then. That's all for chapter one, I know SUPER short but I will get better with progress! I promise ! Muchas Gracias,again, and again, and again, to my beta, RandomnessUnleashed. I swear I could not have done it without you. You Rock! It's kinda funny because I got the inspiration for this story during Tropical Storm Faye and now I'm doing chapter 2 during Hurricane Gustav and Hannah and those other two in the Atlantic. -- . Well, Review please. It encourages me, a lot !

**Akihiko means Bright Child**

_antwangel_


	2. Merry Happy

_Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and Co. that is currently the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Shonen Sunday, Sunrise, Animax, Nippon TV, Yomiuri Tv, and the rest of those companies I can't pronounce, with the exception of Akihiko (he's my baby too) and all those other characters not in Inuyasha or all those Hispanic and English named people, those sexy people are all mine ! I also don't own any of the songs that are in this story or the company's of famous things, like the PS3-Sony owns that-or Armani or DKNY or Ford -Armani owns Armani, Donna Kara owns DKNY, and Ford owns Ford. _

_**Kibou**_

Kibou-the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; Hope.

Chapter 2-Merry Happy

I can be alone, yeah  
I can watch a sunset on my own  
I can be alone, yeah  
I can watch a sunset on my own  
I can be alone  
I can watch a sunset on my own

Sitting in restaurants  
Thought we were so grown up  
But I know now that we were not the people  
That we turned out to be  
Chatting on the phone  
Can't take back those hours  
But I won't regret'  
Cause you can grow flowers  
From where dirt used to be

Dancing at discos  
Eating cheese on toast  
Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy  
But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around

_-Merry Happy written by Kate Nash_

"Hola am-ee-ga."

"Practicing Spanish, I see." Kagome sat down next to her best friend, Sango, at the local coffee shop.

"Yup," Sango said grinning, "Miroku and I need a place to honeymoon and we've been to most of the Caribbean so I thought, 'Hey Cabo San Lucas sounds pretty good, so why not?'"

Kagome had to giggle. She had known Sango for eons, they were, in Sango's words, best friends from the womb to the tomb. They always had the same teachers- with the exception of college- but even then they afforded the rent for a small apartment. Until she left Sango in the lecherous hands of her cousin, Miroku, who conveniently, needed an apartment while she moved in with Kouga.

Kagome guessed his lecherous way got to her. They started going out, and before she realized it they were already proposed and getting married, not that she would have noticed anyway. She was too busy still getting over the fact that her husband had cheated on her with what she thought was one of her friends. Then finding an apartment for her baby and herself to take shelter in, supporting said baby by herself, and to top it all off trying to dodge the men Sango continously introduced her to took up most of Kagome's attention.

She didn't know why but it seemed as though either she or Miroku wanted her to procreate and make more god children for them. That or wanted to see her happy and this time, permanently, she had to laugh at the first one.

"Kagome?"

She saw Sango waving her hand in front of Kagome's face.

"Yeah? Oh sorry what did you just say ?"

"God, Kagome you're spacing out on me more than usual, we need to get you a man!"

Back to the man topic again, Kagome sighed.

"What? No-no way! After the little run-in I had with that bastard this morning just proves my cause that all men are pigs!"

" Run-in? With a man? Oh, do tell" She made that gesture with her hands that she always made when she was interested in something.

"Well, there's not much to say. I was taking Aki to school this morning and running a little late-"

"Per usual," Sango interrupted.

She glared, then continued, "I was taking Aki to school and this jerk suddenly starts honking at me just cause I space out for a few seconds. So, I got out of the car and went to talk to him-"

"You got out of your car?"

"Yes, and I went up-"

"In the middle of a highway." It wasn't so mush as a question as it was an accusation.

"Yes, because he-"

"With cars going at like at 70 right next to you."

"Yes, God, Sango-"

"You could've been run over!" She practically screamed.

"I realized that now so can I finish?"

"Just promise me one thing." Sango had that desperate look in her eyes.

Kagome had to sigh, "What Sango?"

"Don't you ever do anything that stupid no matter how desperate you are."

"Sango! I wasn't desperate I just wasn't going to let that idiot disrespect me.."

"By honking? Geez, Kags did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?"

"Well, maybe if you would've let me finish the damn story you would know what he did that got me so mad." That definitely got Sango's attention.

"Alright, alright, sorry that I keep interrupting."

"It's alright. So, not only did that freak honk like five times, he actually called me a bitch."

"Oh no he didn't!" She waved her index finger from side to side.

"Oh yes he did! So I got out of my car, went to where he was at, and then the dude starts spacing out, staring at me like if he's never seen a woman before or something." She paused, mid-step and looked around. When had she gotten up and started pacing around?

"So?"

"I tried to communicate and the other cars started honking and then he had the gall to accuse me _again _of keeping the traffic_. _So, I slapped him."

Sango ended up spilling all of her coffee on the seat Kagome had just vacated.

"You WHAT?" Her eyes were practically bulging out of her sockets.

"I slapped him. Simple, he deserved it."

"Kagome, you can't just go around slapping people like that."

Now Sango was lecturing her? Kagome bristled, she thought Sango missed her whole point, "San, didn't you hear, he _deserved _it!"

"Ugh, Kagome you're impossible."

"I am, but that's why you love me. Now, let's get outta here before the waiters charge us more for that stain which will probably never wash away."

"Right! Let's go to the mall, I hear there's an open house tonight that might score you some single men!"

"Wait, Sango! I never told...wait, where did you hear that?"

"I got my resources."

Kagome rolled her eyes, "Whatever, freak."

They took Kagome's car to the nearest mall. It was one of Kagome favorites, it had all of the stores Kagome loved. She ended up walking the mall about three times before Sango found her a suitable outfit to wear. 'Not too flashy, not too drag, not too hoe-ish. To put it simply, it's perfect!'

By the time she was done, she had enough outfits to wear for Aki's next five open houses.

"Well Sango I gotta go. It's 1:30 and it's a thirty minute drive from here to Shikon Elementary."

"Alright, I've got to go, too. Miroku's due home anytime and you know how he gets if there's no food on the table."

Kagome laughed and hugged her friend goodbye, got into her car, and left.

She found Akihiko waiting for her with a friend by the big school doors. He ran to her and

gave her a big hug while waving to his friend.

"Mommy! I had so much fun today!"

Seeing her son smiling that big goofy smile always warmed her heart.

"Really? What did you do today?"

"Well, today after lunch, we went to the park for recess and then Mr. Takahashi, he-he-he let us make music with pots and pans!" He exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Really? He sounds like a nice guy."

"He is Mommy!"

Kagome giggled, this man must certainly be something. Her son never talked so much about a teacher. She had to meet him. In fact, that's precisely what she told Sango over the phone.

"Wow! Kagome! I haven't seen you this excited about a man since Kouga!"

"I know, it's weird. I guess it's mainly because Aki talks about him so much, I want to meet the man that has had such a wonderful impression on my son."

She could almost hear Sango smiling. "Hey, don't get any-'

Kagome was suddenly interrupted my a smiling boy tugging her arm. "Mommy! It's almost 7:30! See Mommy? I can tell time! Mr. Takahashi showed us how! I can't wait for you to meet him!"

"Alright alright, I'm going!" She turned her attention back to her cell phone, in which Sango was talking, "Well, looks like someone wants to get there early! Hey, in your next wedding can I be the Maid of Honor? Since you so conveniently passed the right of passage onto your kid brother last time."

"Sango, there isn't going to be a next time!"

"Sure, sure."

With that Kagome hung up, she didn't need to hear Sango ramble on about her never-going-to-happen-in-a-million-years wedding. Akihiko spent the entire car ride it talking about how great Mr. Takahashi was. She swore that either he wanted her to go out with him or he wanted to go out with him himself. She chose the first. She thought it was all a ploy, that Aki was in cahoots with Sango and Miroku in trying to get her a boyfriend. Maybe it was because Akihiko was lonely wanted a younger sibling to play with? She sighed he did deserve another little brother or sister to play with. But it wasn't her fault! It was all Kouga's!

"Mommy, we're here! We're here!"

The quickly went off, hand in hand, and walked together inside of the big blue doors. The school was even more decorative then it had been from the outside! It had a beautiful baby blue color on every door that matched the color on the larger bigger doors for the Cafeteria/Auditorium and the ones for the exits. It had rainbows all over and smiley faces, the warm feeling almost made her smile.

They were immediately ushered into the cafeteria for the orientation. Most of which consisted of the introduction of the administration and the faculty all saying the same thing 'Good evening, am your child's so-an-so, and I would just like to thank you all for coming to our wonderful school and we hope you and your child enjoy the school year here an Shikon Elementary,' over and over.

Once the orientation was done, Akihiko practically dragged Kagome to his classroom. Parents were already inside aimlessly chattering about. She took a seat in Akihiko's desk while he stood proudly next to her.

On his desk was his name tag with blue motorcycles and trucks. She smiled; her son had such a huge obsession with anything mechanical. Apparently, he inherited more than his good looks from his father.

She suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Um, miss?'

She turned around to find a pretty nervous looking guy. He had brown hair and looked like the type of guy that you'd go with to a book reading or something boring like that.

"Yes?"

"Um, I couldn't help but notice that you were by yourself."

Her little boy decided that he should make himself known.

"No, she isn't! She's with me, right, Mommy?"

"Yes, I am, but it isn't nice to yell at someone like that."

Akihiko looked down, "Sorry Mister."

"It's alright. What's you name, little man?"

Akihiko immediately smiled up, "Akihiko Ookami, and you?"

"I'm Houjo, Houjo Takeda and I presume you must be Mrs. Ookami."

"Ex-Mrs. Ookami, Mr. Ookami and I aren't on speaking terms anymore. Divorced; I'm Ms. Higurashi now."

"Oh, well in that case," He leaned down to kiss the back of her palm, "Would you care to

join me for dinner on Friday?"

Kagome looked down at the man, why not? It wasn't like she was doing anything as long as it involved Aki she was okay with it.

"I don't know; I wouldn't want to leave Aki by himself."

"Oh! It's alright! We could go to Chuck World, my little girl, Hannah, loves that place."

"Oh, why not. Pick us up at 7."

Houjo smiled and walked back to-Kagome guessed- Hannah's desk and sat down.

Suddenly there was silence in the class as a man in the front of the room made an announcement saying that the introductions would be skipped since Mr. Takahashi was late.

Everyone started speaking again and Kagome met some parents. One was named Michelle, her little girl, Amanda, seemed to be one of Akihiko's friends. Amanda had the curliest blond hair, from her mother, and the cutest freckles and dimples Kagome had ever seen. The second one or she should say two were Akihiko's best friend's parents, Armaud and Delilah. They were a beautiful couple, loving and kind. Probably how she and Kouga would've been had he not cheated on her.

Akihiko tugged her arm.

"Mommy! He's here! Mr. Takahashi's finally here!"

Akihiko dragged her to where some parent were.

"Mr. Takahashi!"

From what she could tell, as she was behind the line of parents, he looked down and patted her son on the head.

"Hey, Akihiko! Where're your parents? I wanna meet them."

"Her," he corrected.

"Oh, daddy couldn't make it?"

Akihiko looked down, "No."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sport."

"It's alright! Mommy really wants to meet you!"

He grabbed the mans arm and lead him to where Kagome was. She was rummaging through her purse for her cell phone that just wouldn't shut up.

"Mr. Takahashi, Mommy. Mommy, Mr. Takahashi."

Out of plain courtesy, Inuyasha stuck out his hand for her to take it, but as soon as 'Mommy' looked up he couldn't help but to retract it and yell, 'It's YOU!'

A/N: A little bit longer! 7 pages on 12 font! I promise it will get longer, much longer! Well, what do you guys think? Is it good, bad, so-so? Leave a review, flames included. If you guys think I need to improve on something, alright so be it! Lolol. So muck love, once again, to RandomnessUnleashed, without whom this author would look like an illiterate! Much prayers and thoughts for those who were affected by Hurricane Gustav, Cubans included, I would appreciate a review, comment, email, anything saying you're alright or something, It makes me happy and less worried knowing that one more person is okay. Prayers to those in Pinar del Rio and la Isla de la Juventud.

Well, on a happier note I will probably update soon! Keep the reviews coming!


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